Atrial fibrillation (A-fib) is a common cardiac arrhythmia which can cause palpitations, fainting, and chest pain. Even brief A-fib episodes are associated with risks for stroke, heart failure, hospitalization, and death. It is one of the most common arrhythmias which increases with age and presents with a wide spectrum of symptoms.
Most A-fib detection methods rely on a variability of the RR interval from electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. Chaos and randomness of fluctuations of the stroke volumes of the heart muscle can lead to relatively large fluctuations in the levels of the systolic and the diastolic pressure waves. The asymptomatic nature of A-fib makes it difficult to detect. Frequent monitoring can help to improve detection and minimize the associated risks. Therefore, there is a need for new technologies for detecting the presence of A-fib which can be worn by a patient so that monitoring can be done without impacting the patient's quality of life. Cost effective A-fib monitoring devices are desired. There is a need for such devices that can be worn in the home or work environment for continuous A-fib monitoring and physiological event detection.
Accordingly, what is needed in this art is a method and apparatus for monitoring a subject of interest for atrial fibrillation which can be comfortably worn by the subject circumferentially around an area of exposed skin.